The Next Challenge is ....

Adoring Husband and I went to the movies today and thankfully,  we remembered our movie passes this time :D

We saw 'Sherlock Holmes:  A Game of Shadows'.  I enjoyed the movie, only because Robert Downey Jnr was in it.  Some of the effects were pretty impressive, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you are a fan.  It was long - 2 hours and 25 mins - and dark.

The best part of today was was having a visit with Chicklet and having coffee with Vegan Chickie before the movie.

I received a Christmas parcel from BGWLBH today.  It was full of blingy jewellery and we all know how I lurve blingy jewellery!!  Lots of fabulous dress rings and a beautiful turquoise cross pendant, bigger than an egg, with silver wrapped around it.  A photo shows it better than I can describe it...

She also sent me the Masterchef recipe book, which I can't wait to try, although, some of the recipes are a bit complicated and time consuming and I think Adoring Husband is better with those types of recipes, so I might mark a couple of them and have him take up the Masterchef position in the kitchen :D

BGWLBH also had a BRILLIANT idea for her birthday this year, which I am very excited about!  Just let me say that it involves photography **insert smiley face here** and my brain is working overtime making plans.

 The new photography group challenge has been set for January.  The theme is 'Black & White'.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet for that one.

A couple of random people shots from the beach yesterday afternoon ...

I plan on heading out bright and early tomorrow morning to try to find that little Red-backed Fairy Wren again, so I'd best get to bed .. it's after midnight already!

Nite all.

Rituals

I have many rituals in my life.

Every morning, I have a ritual.

I get out of bed, make myself presentable to the world, let the dogs out to pee, kiss Adoring Husband goodbye and then I pedal off to get my coffee and meet my boys at the Seat of Knowledge.

Every night, I follow a ritual.

The last thing I do is update this blog.  Then I close the windows and doors, pull the blinds closed, let the dogs out for one last pee, fill the water bottles and put them in the fridge, turn off the TV, put the dogs to bed and then turn out the lights before changing into my pyjamas and climbing into bed.

Psychotic dogs know this ritual very well, and when I turn off the TV, they come to the door ready to be ushered into their beds.

When I turn off the TV, after about 5 seconds, it makes this very soft clicking sound.

Tonight, I changed the order of my ritual and I turned off the TV before I started doing everything else.

Immediately after that very soft clicking sound that the 'off' TV makes, I heard the shuffling sound of claws upon tiled floor and looked up to see all three dogs standing at the doorway, wagging their tails, waiting for me to usher them into bed.

So now, they are waiting very impatiently for me to finish my blog post and THEN I will confuse them further by filling the water bottles and THEN taking them outside to pee before bed.

I do have a touch of evil in me :D

When I lived in Griffith, my last partner had two Ridgeback X Bull Mastiff hunting dogs, which I inappropriately named Fatty and Splodge.

Butch (my partner) would always park his ute nose first in the driveway, and for ten years, when he opened the gate to the back yard, Fatty and Splodge would hurtle through the gates, run around to the back of the car, where he had opened the tail gate and they would jump enthusiastically into the back of the ute ready to go hunting.

One morning, Butch, uncharacteristically, backed his ute into the driveway so that it was tail end first.

When he opened the gates to the back yard, Fatty and Splodge came hurtling through them, ran around the car and dived enthusiastically onto the bonnet of the ute!

In their state of panic and confusion, their feet couldn't get a grip on the paintwork of the bonnet and they slid onto the windscreen, their legs flailing about madly until they slid or fell off the ute onto the ground.

It was the funniest thing I'd seen in a long time and I laughed until I had tears!

They jumped up onto their feet and shook their heads looking at the front of the ute with dumbfounded expressions on their faces, when Butch called to them from the back of the ute and they bounded back to where they SHOULD have jumped in the first place.

This is a very good lesson on dog training ... it's how dogs learn ... by doing something over and over and over again until it becomes second nature to them.

In this case, it wasn't necessarily a good training strategy, but the method can be put to use for other training situations.

That was such a funny day!

Anyway, I'm glad that I thought of that story, because I couldn't think of anything to write tonight and now I am done!!

Time for the nightly ritual.

Nite all.

    

January Chicklet Update

It's been a while since I put some up-to-date photos of Chicklet on here.

She's growing up so fast and getting cuter by the day!  I love her so much!

I'm still working on my 101 list - the last 30 are tough going.

These are the things on tomorrow's 'to-do' list ...

1. Pull down the Christmas tree and pack it away (Yes!  It's 7th January and our tree is still up!).
2. Take down the Christmas decorations and pack them away. 
3. Drink coffee.
4. Take photos.
5. Eat food.

It'll be a tough Sunday hey :D

I hope you enjoyed the Chicklet update.

Nite all.

Summer is here.

I headed off earlier than usual this morning, because the weather forecast was for a hot day, and I wanted to get home before the heat  

The lagoon was calling my name and I was hoping to catch the early morning happenings of the local birdlife.

I got a nice shot of a blue faced dove, just before the midges began eating me alive, so I high-tailed it out of there as fast as my legs could pedal!

Blue faced dove (Adoring Husband told me the real name, but I forgot it)

Even the Seat of Knowledge didn't hold my attention for long, but it seems that the hot weather has scared off all the interesting birdlife around town.

Pretty butterflies fluttering and dancing.

This one looked like a mating ritual!

I did find three beautiful butterflies fluttering about.  It was unusual to see three together and their colours were also unusual.

Red dragonfly at the nature reserve.

Finally, as I triked my way around the nature reserve, I came across some dragonflies.   I haven't seen these red ones around here before.

Adoring Husband and I have been working our way through series one - seven of 'Grey's Anatomy' on dvd.  After that, we have the complete boxed set of 'ER' to watch!  Talk about couch potatoes!

I'm still working on my 101 list too.

Now that Summer is well and truly here, I am going to have to change my routine I think.  It's too hot for pedalling after 9am.  Perhaps late afternoon outings will work for a while.

Nite all.

101 Things I Want to Photograph in 1001 Days

Now that my thirty day challenge is complete, Vegan Chickie gave me a suggestion to consider.

There is a challenge called the 'Day Zero Project' where you set yourself 101 tasks to complete in 1001 days.  A bucket list, if you will.  There is a website dedicated to it.

http://dayzeroproject.com/about/

So Vegan Chickie suggested that I set myself a photography challenge of 101 things that I want to photograph in 1001 days.

I think it's a fabulous idea!  The hardest part will be thinking of 101 things to photograph!  I have sixty on a list already, but I really struggled with the last 20 and I might need some help with the final 40 ... so if anybody out there has any ideas ... feel free to toss them my way!

The Canadians left this morning.

Ken (with the beard) and Larry (in blue)

They were headed to Bundaberg to take a tour of the Bundaberg Rum Distillery and then possibly head to Townsville.

Same post, different day ... could be the same bird.

The Bee-eaters were back.

It's going to be a hot day tomorrow, so I hope to leave the house early to get some photos, before I go to the Seat of Knowledge and then pedal home before the heat sets in for the day.

It'll be a good day to do the washing.

Nite all.

Day Thirty - Self Portrait

Day Thirty - Self Portrait

Well, today was a little out of the ordinary.  The story goes a bit like this...

In our photography group, one of the ladies has a brother visiting her from Canada.  He has been in Australia since September and will be here until March.

Two weeks ago, another member of their family, a cousin, arrived for a one month holiday here too.

The two Canadians are now on a slow trip north from Toowoomba, (where our photography friend lives) and they reached our little patch of paradise this afternoon.

We invited them to stay here for the night (possibly more than one night) on their way north.

So we've had a very pleasant afternoon, the boys drinking some cold beers and chatting about stuff.

Larry, the cousin, has worked for the Railway in Canada for almost as long as Adoring Husband worked for the Railway in NSW, so they've had lots in common to chat about.

Ken, the brother, is a 'get me away from the ratrace' kind of guy and middle-aged hippie, so we've had some beliefs in common to chat about too.

They shouted us Chinese take-away for dinner tonight, which was a lovely gesture and they are now tucked in bed getting a good nights sleep.

They have a small-ish tinny boat with them and they plan on going up river tomorrow to do some fishing and crabbing.

Surprisingly, I have enjoyed the afternoon and evening chatting with them.  I say 'surprisingly', because I don't usually like my routine being interrupted.  Especially by strangers.

They have been a real pleasure and I think Adoring Husband has enjoyed entertaining them as well.

We even got the laptop out and looked up Google Earth to see where, in Canada, they live and work, which was amazing!

I have an early date tomorrow with the girls for coffee and then I have indoor bowls, so I'd best get some beauty sleep.

Nite all.    

Day Twenty-nine - Black and White

Day Twenty-nine  -  Black and White

Today, G'Gma sent me a link to this short video, which I played over and over because I loved it so much.

It brought tears to my eyes, firstly, because I have always loved this song and secondly, because I have such a soft spot for all things in nature.

http://www.flixxy.com/wonderful-world-david-attenborough.htm

Also, who doesn't love and respect the great David Attenborough??

Thank you G'Gma for sharing that with me, so that I can share it with everyone else who cares.

I had no luck with the camera today.  Nature seemed to have taken a holiday.

I say that because I did not see one Rainbow Bee-eater bird anywhere today!  Very unusual because there are three spots around town where I have been guaranteed a sighting for the last three months.

The Tawny Frogmouths had disappeared again.   No Honey Eaters fluttering about.  There was a Whistling Kite, but he was so high in the tree that even my 400mm lens couldn't get a clear shot.

I think I will take the 500mm lens tomorrow and see what I can come up with.

It's tennis season in Australia right now.  The Hopman Cup is being played in Perth, Western Australia.  The Brisbane International is in (obviously) Brisbane.  The APIA International starts in Sydney on 8th Janurary.  There is one each in Adelaide and Hobart too I think and then the Australian Open begins in two weeks, on 16th January in Melbourne.

It's my favourite time of the year.  Cricket and Tennis and then when both of those sports finish up, the NRL season begins!!  Yay!!

Enough for now.

Nite all.  

Day Twenty-eight - Flowers

Day Twenty-eight  -  Flowers

A grevillea flower from the Botanical Gardens

It had been more than a week since we saw Vegan Chickie, the Bare-chested Chef and Chicklet, so today, we drove into The Bay to have coffee and catch up.

I think Chicklet thought she was supposed to dance on the table!

Adoring Husband amused Chicklet while I drank my coffee.

We had about an hour enjoying their company.  They are going to Melbourne for a few days, so I had to get my Chicklet 'fix' before they left.

After we parted company with them, Adoring Husband asked where I wanted to go and I told him that I wanted to take photos somewhere.

He drove us to River Heads where we had lunch at a little place with lovely tree-lined water views.

A man walking his dog along the river bank.

A Butcher Bird and it's baby joined us for lunch.

A little piece of prawn cutlet for lunch.

We followed lunch with a drive through the new housing estates with river views.  We looked at the houses and gardens and the view that each enjoyed.

They were quite nice, but none of them made us want to move there!

We drove back to The Bay and did a little shopping before driving home, plonking ourselves on the couch and spending the afternoon watching 'The Big Bang Theory'.   It makes me laugh!!

Tomorrow is morning tea with the girls.  I always look forward to that :D

Only two more days of my photography challenge.  I've enjoyed it so much, I might need to find a new challenge for 2012!

Nite all.

The Theory of Happiness

Day Twenty-seven  -  From a Distance

I mentioned yesterday, that I have a theory about happiness.

Happiness comes in ebbs and flows.  As long as the ebbing and flowing remains even, everything goes smoothly.

If you feel overwhelming happiness for too long, the wave of happiness grows bigger and bigger, until eventually, it has to crash, as all waves do.

When it crashes, you get dumped, big time.

It means that something devastating will happen to cause you untold sadness ... to make up for the overwhelming happiness that you had for too long.

I have many personal examples which I can't share on here and which require detailed explanations, but the two examples that I can share are:

2005 - After a year of riding the wondrous wave of happiness while forming my relationship with Adoring Husband and then moving to Sydney to live with him and feeling like I was the luckiest person on the planet,  my mother died suddenly and unexpectedly.

Absolutely knocked the wind out of me and stole a great big chunk of that happiness right away from me.

2011 - Having ridden the wondrous wave of happiness after moving to my perfect patch of paradise three years ago with Adoring Husband,  meeting a host of wonderful people and forming a fun social circle, and then getting married and experiencing the best wedding ever.  On top of that, the birth of my perfect little Chicklet.

The one person who, above all others,  genuinely shared my happiness, was always excited to hear about my new life, had a twinkle in her eye and a grin from ear to ear knowing how happy I was.  The one person who never questioned my decisions and was never ever critical of my new life ... died suddenly and unexpectedly.

Absolutely knocked the wind out of me and stole a great big chunk of happiness right away from me.

After many experiences like this in my life.  There is now a 'thought' that I know, when it crosses my mind, I need to be very, very wary.

The thought is this "My life is perfect and I can't imagine being happier than I am right now."

With that very thought, my heart skips a beat and I begin to feel anxious.

The same goes for the deep sadnesses in my life.

When I am feeling at my lowest and I am wondering how I am ever going to dig myself out of this pit of despair, a 'thought' hits me.

The thought is this "This has been tough going, but I am now due for some happiness, so the only way from here is up."

With that very thought, my heart skips a beat and I begin looking forward to and planning a positive future.

We humans are a strange bunch aren't we?  We all deal with life's highs and lows in different ways.

Some focus on the bad and sad, spending their lives feeling sorry for themselves and looking for sympathy from their peers.

Some pick themselves up, brush themselves down and just get on with it.

Some want to talk about their problems with anyone who'll listen.

Some withdraw and need to work it all out internally.

There is no right or wrong way.

I think we have to let people deal with their 'situations' however they need to do so, and give them the space to do it.  No pressure.  No demands.  No guilt.

As hard as I try, I will never understand life.

I analyse and I ponder and I contemplate and I reflect.  I never come close to understanding what life is all about.  Why are we here?  What is our purpose?

Yes, I know, the meaning of life is 42.

That makes more sense than anything I can come up with.

The reason I'm telling you about my theory of happiness is because I shared it with my brother after he lost his 'soul mate' and just yesterday he reminded me of it by saying he was going to monitor his happiness so that he didn't get too much of it (I can't remember his exact words).

In case anyone is interested, my entry in the Windows challenge came third (because The Master thought the window sill was too high and made Win look uncomfortable and 'set up').  Ah well, I strive to do better next time.  Thanks Win :D for being an easy and co-operative model.  I may call on you again!

Nite all.  

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Day Twenty-six  -  Close Up

I have a theory about happiness.

Many people have scoffed at my theory, but I am going to share it with you anyway... tomorrow :o)

Nite all.

Day Twenty-five - Something Pink

Day Twenty-five  -  Something Pink

It was a lovely day with Adoring Husband today.

We drove into The Bay early, but came via Toogoom.

A number of times, when I have caught the bus into town, it has driven past a paddock with a large tree.  Underneath that tree, has been a large mob of kangaroos.  I often thought I'd like to get a photo, so that's where our first stop was today.

Then we drove to the Botanical Gardens in The Bay and spent about two hours walking the tracks and taking photos of birds, dragonflies, butterflies and plants.

Sacred Kingfisher

Across the path to ANOTHER Sacred Kingfisher

Kookaburra eating a bug

Juvenile Nankeen Night Heron

Satin Fly Catcher

That left us JUST enough time to get to the cinema.  We saw 'New Years Eve' and I enjoyed it very much.  There was a slight problem though.

Adoring Husband and I received ten movie passes for Christmas (at our request) and today we planned on using the first of them, HOWEVER, the movie passes all remained on the cupboard in our house, and we had to pay to see the movie today!!  **forehead slap**

After the movie, we went to Drummond Golf where Adoring Husband had some gift vouchers to use.

We had intended meeting friends at the Bowls Club tonight, but we arrived home late in the afternoon and just didn't have the energy or the motivation to get ready to go out.

Hopefully, we will see them at the pub tomorrow night for New Years Eve celebrations.

Looking forward to seeing the New Year in with friends.

Nite all.

Day Twenty-four - Animal

Day Twenty-four  -  Animal

A tourist brought her pet guinea pig on holidays with her :)

The Seat of Knowledge is almost back to normal, now that all but one of my boys has returned from their Christmas break.

One of life's great joys is complaining about the tourists with my boys :D

So you find people who like to feed the happiness INTO you!!

Had a pretty good morning with the camera.  It was quite cool and overcast, so it was easy to sit and wait for the birdlife to do something magical.  Some mornings, the sun bites into you, and you can't sit still for longer than five or ten minutes.

This one has been popular with my flickr group.  I think the Bee Eaters have run out of bees to eat.

Banana Bird with it's blue mask.

If they didn't have that spectacular colour on their wings, you'd never notice them !

I have a date with Adoring Husband tomorrow.  Photo shoot, the movies and lunch.  I'm looking forward to it, so I'd best get some sleep so that I have plenty of energy.

I have nothing more to say today.

Nite all.

Day Twenty-three - Sunflare

Day Twenty-three  -  Sunflare

Another cheater - taken two years ago :)

A glorious December day today.

This is how I started my day ...

The view from the Seat of Knowledge

and this is how I finished my day ...

The lagoon from a distance.

In between was pretty special too.

Before I got my coffee and went to the Seat of Knowledge, I took a detour to my lagoon to check out the bird life during the earlier hours of the morning.

A baby Fig Bird

Weaving my way through the tourists I found my Pacific Baza bird perched in the tree by the caravan park.

Pacific Baza

and then I found my peaceful place away from the tourists on the edge of the national park.

Unfortunately, the birdlife wasn't interested in showing off today, so I didn't get any good shots from there.

Adoring Husband had invited me out for lunch, so after I posted my photos onto flickr, we got dressed and drove to Goodies Restaurant at Toogoom, which is about fifteen minutes from here and right on the waterfront.

I purposely left my camera at home, because sometimes I force myself to take a short break from my obsession, however, the tide was high and the view from the restaurant was so inviting and I found myself feeling very disappointed that I couldn't take a few snaps.

Our meal was lovely and we ran into one of the girls who works at our local pub.  She was there celebrating somebody's birthday and came to our table for a chat.  Our table was in the outdoor area under the trees and there was a cool breeze blowing.  Very very pleasant.

We were there for about ninety minutes before we made our way home.

Not long after we arrived, Mrs Bucket pulled into the driveway and came in for a visit.  She stayed for about an hour and we heard all about her Christmas and Boxing Day.  She was happy... but then she is always happy :o)

So, all in all, it's been a very nice day.  Adoring Husband plays golf tomorrow, but we have made plans for a day together on Friday, to take photos and go to the movies.  I'm looking forward to that!

Nite all.

Day Twenty-two - Hands

Day Twenty-two  -  Hands

I need to harp on about Tourist season again.

This morning at the Seat of Knowledge, only Coral and Bill were there to share the glorious start to the day ... along with hundreds of tourists.

Tourists walking on the path that meanders along the river.

Tourist's children riding their scooters and bicycles and skateboards along the same path.

Tourists and their pets.

Tourists in long queues backing their boats down the boat ramp.

Tourists speeding along the river on their jet skis.

Tourists paddling their kayaks and canoes along the river.

Tourists lined up along the river bank with their folding chairs and their fishing rods.

Tourists cooking bacon and eggs on the gas barbecues at the park.

Tourists floating on foam noodles in the shallows of the river.

Tourists working themselves into a rage because there are too many tourists attempting to do all of these things at once.

My lovely sleepy little town has turned into an Anger Management Resort for the Rat Race Escapees.

I did make one satisfying discovery today about tourists...

... the river is their magnet, which makes the bushland surrounding the town a peaceful haven where I can  search out nature's gems without contending with hustle and bustle.

Honey Eater 

Wattle Bird

There are Whipbirds in the bushland too.  I heard them today.

The first I heard of Whipbirds, was at Bunya Mountains when we were there a couple of months ago.  They make a wonderful sound which has two parts.  The male sings the first part and the female finishes it.

I was so close.  They sounded about ten feet away from me, but the bushland was so dense, I just couldn't see them.

It's good to know that they are there though.

If someone had said to me ten years ago "One day, in your future, you will be creeping through bushland with a camera trying to find birds to photograph"  I would have laughed in their face.

An important lesson that I have learned in life is NEVER say NEVER!

Nite all.

Day Twenty-one - Faceless Portrait

Day Twenty-one - Faceless Portrait

Adoring Husband awoke on Christmas Eve morning to find many missed phone calls from the nursing home where his Mum resides.

When he called them, they advised him that his Mum had been rushed to the hospital during the night and that it looked like she may have had a heart attack.

He then phoned the hospital in a panic, expecting the worst, considering that she is 94 yrs old and this is the third time in a month that she has been taken to hospital.

Planning in our heads, another trip down to Sydney.  Wondering if we could even get flights to Sydney at short notice at this time of year!  Wondering how serious it was.  Wondering if she was suffering.  Wondering if she was afraid.

The hospital informed him that she was fine and that she would be returning to the nursing home that day.  They had found nothing wrong with her.

No heart attack.

This is becoming an emotional roller coaster for Adoring Husband ... and me, for that matter!

It's difficult being so far away because we can't just jump in the car and visit her, to see for ourselves, how she is doing.

We are relying on the nursing home and the hospital to give us accurate information and more often than not, that information is conflicting.

It's quite draining.  No, it's VERY draining.

Today, we fell asleep around lunch time.  I slept for three hours and Adoring Husband slept for about four hours.

We were supposed to attend a Boxing Day barbecue with friends at the Lions Park.  We missed it.

 **sigh**

At least my morning wasn't a complete waste of time.

After my usual time at the Seat of Knowledge, where only one of my boys was sitting, because the others are away with family for Christmas, I pedalled down to see Aussie H.

She was setting up for the big barbecue at the park.  Mrs Bucket and her hubby had gone home to get eskies and the remaining goodies that didn't fit in the car on the first trip.

So I chatted with Aussie H for about 30 mins before setting off to find something to photograph.

Bee Eater with a dragonfly

I'm informed this is a juvenile Whistling Kite

Mature Whistling Kite

Somebody commented about the amazing birdlife in our area, so I went into my flickr photostream to have a look at the birds I had photographed during the past eight months.

I was amazed to find so many bird photos, it would take too long to name them all in here ... although I may put that list of birds in a future post.

Time to sleep ... again.

Nite all.

Day Twenty - Bokeh

Day Twenty - Bokeh

Merry Christmas everybody :D

What a fabulous day we had today.  Our first with little Chicklet.  Good food, good company, lots of giggles.  Just a wonderful family Christmas.

It seems like I spent a LOT of time in the kitchen though!

We had a Skype call with Bubbles this afternoon and tried to call BGWLBH's Dad on Skype but got the 'call failed' message.  It would have been so nice to introduce Chicklet to BGWLBH and her family on Skype.

Earlier in the day there were phone calls from Number One Son, my sister Squirt and Adoring Husband's son JS.

Right now, I am absolutely exhausted and we have a big Boxing Day barbecue to attend tomorrow, down by the river, so yet another short and sweet post tonight.

Unfortunately, the photos were not as good as I'd hoped, and I haven't been through them all yet, so I will probably post a couple tomorrow night as well.

For now, enough,

Nite all.